


In Buckets

by Pouler (poulerslashes)



Series: Drabbles and Shorts [13]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: M/M, irresponsible thunderstorm behavior
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-13
Updated: 2015-01-13
Packaged: 2018-03-07 10:02:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3170759
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/poulerslashes/pseuds/Pouler
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Asahi was on his way home from the train station when he heard the first low grumble of thunder.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In Buckets

Asahi was on his way home from the train station when he heard the first low grumble of thunder. He’d seen the clouds on the horizon but thought they were further off. They were moving fast, it seemed, hellbent on intercepting him before he made it to safety. Asahi picked up his pace.

The wind was picking up – the trees sighing and quivering around him, tossing leaves into his path. He hiked his bag up his shoulder and started jogging. He wasn’t wearing running shoes and his feet would complain about it later, but he’d deal with that then. Thunder echoed again, louder and more furious, and then Asahi was flat out running down the road.

There was a bank of shops ahead, if he could get there before all hell broke loose then – Asahi rounded a corner at a full sprint and collided hard with something. He fell back and landed roughly on his butt. To his horror, he had bowled over a person – at first glance, a child.

Then he looked closer and he realized – it wasn’t a child at all. It was Nishinoya. Asahi had only seen him outside of school a few times, barring post-practice visits to the Foothill Store, and never in clothes that weren’t either his uniform or practice gear. His hair was down too, which had added to Asahi’s momentary confusion over his identity.

Underneath his horror at having knocked over his friend, Asahi felt a very different sort of fear take hold of his gut. The truth was, he’d daydreamed a few times of running into Nishinoya outside of school, maybe on a pleasant walk through the town, maybe close to sunset, maybe on a long summer evening when the cicadas would be humming around them, and in a few of these imaginings he’d even allowed himself the small fantasy that – just maybe – Nishinoya would be happy to see him. More than happy. But now, having  _literally_  run into him, Asahi saw every one of those little daydreams falling apart in his head.

Nishinoya propped himself up where he had fallen into the grass beside the road. At least he hadn’t fallen on the asphalt, Asahi noted. His own hands stung from where he had braced his fall.

"Asahi-san?" Nishinoya said.

Asahi swallowed down his distress long enough to force out a few words. “Are you okay? I am  _so sor–_ ”

The sky chose that moment to open up on them with a loud crack. The downpour was instantaneous and immense. Asahi was soaked from head to toe immediately. Nishinoya appeared to be no better.

"I’m so sorry!" Asahi shouted. "Are you okay?"

Nishinoya started to laugh. “Oh, I’m great! Just terrific!” He stood up and made a good show of dusting himself off.

Asahi quailed in response. Was he being sarcastic? He was probably furious. What would happen now, would he hit him, would he demand Asahi be kicked off the team, or –

Nishinoya stepped over to him. Asahi felt his stomach jump in distress. But all Nishinoya did was bend down and hold out a hand. His face was open, his eyes were bright. He grinned with absolute honesty. “C’mon,” Nishinoya said.

Asahi felt something ease. He reached forward and took Nishinoya’s hand, winced slightly when his scuffed palms touched Nishinoya’s callused ones.

"You okay?" Nishinoya said as he tugged Asahi to his feet. He had always been surprisingly strong.

"I’m fine," Asahi said, "I just scraped my hands." The hot, shameful feeling that had been welling up inside him spilled over. "God, Nishinoya, I’m  _sorry_ ,” he repeated.

"Yeah, you said that already," Nishinoya told him, hands on his hips. "Twice."

There was a flash of lightning, and a crack of thunder so close that Asahi yelped and covered his head with both hands.

Nishinoya grabbed his elbow. “Come on!” he shouted over the rumble. He tugged at Asahi’s arm until it came away from his head, then slid his hand down Asahi’s forearm until he was clutching his hand tightly. “We better run for it!” he said, and he pulled Asahi toward the shops a little ways down the road. He held Asahi’s hand the entire way.

When they reached the shops, Nishinoya tugged him under an awning. “Won’t make much difference now, I guess,” he said.

Asahi just shook his head. “No, I’m sor–”  
  
"It’s okay, Asahi-san, it’s just rain." Nishinoya peeled off his t-shirt and wrung it out on the sidewalk. Asahi was flabbergasted by his lack of modesty and, if he was being honest, secretly jealous he could not do the same. He could feel the cold rain dripping out of his hair down his neck and back, and he shivered. "Why were you running like that anyway?" Nishinoya asked as he pulled his shirt back over his head.

"Oh, I just," Asahi plucked at his soaked sweater. "I just was trying to get over here before it really started coming down."

"It’s just rain!" Nishinoya repeated. "There’s no reason to panic about it." Asahi started to shake his head, but another bolt of lightning flashed distressingly near, and he jumped backward and pressed his back against the wall of the building behind him. Nishinoya peered at him carefully through his sodden bangs. "Asahi-san, are you afraid of lightning?"

"N-no." Asahi tried to shake his head, but Nishinoya stepped into his personal space and went onto his tiptoes to stare at him hard.

"You _are_ , aren’t you?”

Asahi leaned away from him. “So what if I am? It’s not–” Lightning crashed again, a bit further away this time, and he winced. “It’s not  _that_  unusual.”

Nishinoya looked at him for another moment. “So, would it freak you out if I did this?” He stepped out from underneath the awning, right into the rain again.  
  
"Nishinoya–"  
  
"What about this?" He took a step back further and started waving his arms around.

"Would you just–"  
  
There were sticks all over the road that had been knocked there by the wind. Nishinoya grabbed the biggest one of the lot and held it straight up above his head. “How about _now_?”

There was another huge flash nearby, and Asahi felt terror grab at his throat. He dove forward into the rain. He grabbed Nishinoya roughly by the shoulder of his t-shirt and hauled him back under the awning, around the corner from the front of the shop into a little walkspace between the buildings. He had the conflicting impluse to either hug Nishinoya or throttle him. “Are you  _crazy_?” Asahi demanded furiously.

Nishinoya blinked up at him. “Wow,” he said after a moment. “That really scared you.”

"Of course it did!" Asahi snapped. "That  _wasn’t_  funny!” His hands shook where they fisted in Nishinoya’s shirt. “What if something had–” He took a sharp breath, counted to three, made himself unfist his hands. He smoothed down Nishinoya’s shirt over his shoulders, then repeated the motion again, gently. “That wasn’t funny,” he repeated in a meek voice.

Nishinoya was quiet. “I’m sorry,” he said finally. “I didn’t realize.”

Asahi felt weak in the wake of his fear, and he wasn’t able to stop himself from lifting his hands to touch Nishinoya’s face lightly, resting his fingertips on Nishinoya’s jaw. “I don’t think I could bear it if you were hurt,” he murmured.

Nishinoya raised his hands. For a moment, Asahi was afraid he’d knock his hands away, but he only covered Asahi’s larger ones with his own. He laced his fingers through Asahi’s. “Okay,” he said. “I’ll be more careful.”  
  
Asahi nodded silently. He didn’t trust his voice enough to respond. He swiped his thumb over Nishinoya’s cheekbone to brush away a few droplets of rainwater. The world seemed very small all of a sudden, quiet and close in the alleyway with a curtain of rain separating them from the rest of creation.

"You know," Nishinoya said, "the truth is, I’m really happy to see you."

Asahi felt a lightness catch hold in his chest and diffuse into his limbs. “Really?” he asked.

"Yeah. I always kind of hope I’m going to see you around town. Is that weird?" Nishinoya was looking at him with all the focus he usually reserved for the court. Asahi would have expected such attention to be unnerving, but at this moment, he felt instead that he might be the only person in the world that mattered.

The feeling made him brave. “Nishinoya, can I – may I –”

"Just ask, Asahi-san. Just say it. What do you want?"

Asahi swallowed hard and went for broke. “I really want to kiss you.”

"Then kiss me," Nishinoya told him.

Nishinoya’s skin was cold but his mouth was warm. It was even better than Asahi had imagined.


End file.
